Imagination is Dwindling- Imagine That part 3

Television and the computer isn't the only thing that keeps us from wholesome literature and imagining for ourselves. We can apply ourselves to books galore, but are they the kind that actually cultivate knowledge? Are they wholesome and do they ooze quality and wisdom? Or do they simply entertain us and just add fluff and nonsense to our mind?

"A an excellent book has life; it releases something creative in the mind of the reader. The author has captured reality, the permanent stuff of life, and something enduring is planted in the heart."

Reading a book can be slightly compared to watching a movie. Does it just entertain us for a while? Or does it challenge our thinking? Does it make us ask questions? Does it widen our gaze of what the author is driving at?

"A good writer has something worth saying and says it in the best possible way and respects the reader's ability to understand. Language is used well. The word choices make us see feel, hear, taste, smell, decide. The action of the story and the descriptions have a crisp leanness because strong verbs and simple descriptions are used. The Bible is a model for this kind of writing."

" A wholesome and wonderful story has characters of depth, not superficial stereotypes; they inspire the inner life of the reader."

Some might argue though "Can I not read for fun ever?" I don't think it wrong to moderately incorporate some fiction. As long as it does not become the only standard for our reading habits. And as long as it is time worthy. I have made a habit of picking up what I dub as 'pleasure books' only at night after my full day of work and school and reading non pleasure/fulfilling books. I feel like I don't waste precious time in that way. And it's somewhat of a reward when you only get those books once in a while.

"Sometimes our standards are not high enough; we are content with books that don't say anything really important but seem safe...the best hope of promoting quality lies in the better education of the reader. When we give a child a taste for what is really good reading, I don't think that child will acquire an appetite for what is not."

I am grateful that my mother implemented this concept with all of us children. As a result I have enjoyed good literature from an early age.

"Good stories have an excellent spirit about them. They are an experience-imaginative, intellectual, social, spiritual- and a sense of permanent worth surrounds them. " Honey for a Teen's heart excerpts.

I have striven to make this my guideline for finding wholesome books. We should desire books of permanent worth. And above all, the ultimate guideline for all of life as well as literature:

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8

You may go to my blog Open Book Reviews for many suggestions on books for school, family reading etc.

Imagination is Dwindling- Imagine That: Part 2

Another excellent example of a mother who prospered her children’s mind is Ben Carson’s mother Sonya Carson.

“Sonya had only had an education until third grade. After leaving her husband who was abusive, she was left with supporting her sons Ben and Curtis. Ben was eight and Curtis was 10 when Sonya was left to raise the children on her own.

The family was very poor, and to make ends meet Sonya sometimes took on two or three jobs at a time in order to provide for her boys. There were occasions when her boys wouldn’t see her for days at a time, because she would go to work at 5:00 AM and come home around 11:00 PM, going from one job to the next. She was frugal with the family’s finances, cleaning and patching clothes from the Goodwill in order to dress the boys. The family would also go to local farmers and offer to pick corn or other vegetables in exchange for a portion of the yield. She would then can the produce for the kids’ meals. Her actions, and the way she managed the family, proved to be a tremendous influence on Ben and Curtis. Sonya also taught her boys that anything was possible. By his recollection many years later, Ben Carson had thoughts of a career in medicine, though it was more of a fantasy many young children harbor as they grow up.

Because his family was on medical assistance, they would have to wait for hours to be seen by one of the interns at the hospital. Ben would listen to the pulse of the hospital as doctors and nurses went about their routines. Occasionally, there’d be an emergency and he could hear in people’s voices and in their quick movements the pace and emotions rise to meet the challenge. He’d hear the PA system call for a “Dr. Jones” and fantasized that one day they’d be calling for a “Dr. Carson.” Both Ben and his brother experienced difficulty in school.

Ben fell to the bottom of his class, and became the object of ridicule by his classmates. He developed a violent and uncontrollable temper, and was known to attack other children at the slightest provocation. The poverty he lived in and the difficult times he experienced in school seem to exacerbate the anger and rage. Determined to turn her sons around, Sonya limited their TV time to just a few select programs and refused to let them go outside to play until they’d finished their homework. She was criticized for this by her friends, who said her boys would grow up to hate her. But she was determined that her sons would have greater opportunities than she did.

She required them to read two library books a week and give her written reports, even though with her poor education she could barely read them. She would take the papers and review them, scanning over the words and turning pages. Then she would place a checkmark at the top of the page showing her approval. At first, Ben resented the strict regimen. While his friends were playing outside, he was stuck in the house, forced to read a book or do his homework. But after several weeks of his mother’s unrelenting position, he began to find enjoyment in reading.

Being poor, there wasn’t much opportunity to go anywhere. But between the covers of a book he could go anyplace, be anybody, and do anything. Ben began to learn how to use his imagination and found it more enjoyable than watching television. This attraction to reading soon led to a strong desire to learn more. Carson read books on all types of subjects and found connections between them. He saw himself as the central character of what he was reading, even if it was a technical book or an encyclopedia.

He read about people in laboratories, pouring chemicals into a beaker or flask, or discovering galaxies, or peering into a microscope. He began to see himself differently, different than the other kids in his neighborhood who only wanted to get out of school, get some nice clothes, and a nice car. He saw that he could become the scientist or physician he had dreamed about. Staying focused on this vision of his future helped him get through some of the more difficult times.Ben went on to Yale University where he got a degree in neurology.

From Biography.com. You may read the full story HERE.

Today, Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon and the director of Pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. None of this might have been possible if Sonya Carson had not enforced and encouraged her son to open up his mind to the world of knowledge.

“If communal family life is important-if family members must feel some social responsibility to talk together as a family about life, ideas, and values-then we have to make a decision to have it happen. We can’t afford to let either the television or the computer run our lives. If we are dumbing-down our lives by not reading, we have some decision to make. Real life beckons us to reach for the highest.” Honey For a Teen’s Heart.

Imagination is Dwindling- Imagine That: Part 1

When asked why they didn't do more reading, a group of teens unabashedly gave two reasons: the television and the computer. Both become addictive. Both become a substitute for relation within a family. Neither is totally negative. In fact, our technology is amazing. But technology is not in charge of our lives; we are! ...To willingly become a slave of something with an "off" switch is failure to control life. Television may be a passive activity, but what you see does affect your values, especially if you are not used to questioning what you see or read. If you think of your mind as a pad of paper with blank sheets, what are you writing on its pages? We need to decide how we want to fill up the pages of our minds. (Excerpts from 'Honey for a Teen's Heart' on Imagination.)

It may seem I'm agreeing with the idea to eliminate television entertainment, but that is not the case. If you knew me, you would know that I love a good movie! My family has not had cable TV since I was six. Granted we do have a television with a DVD player where we watch movies. But my parents have designated a certain time for movies. We kids are content with this. I understand that my parents want to protect me and encourage a creative and thinking mind.Too much TV steals imagination and attention spans.

"Statistics show that the average young person has watched of 15,000-18000 hours of television by age seventeen."

That's a bit scary.

I'm not just bashing television. The computer is another area I have to limit myself on as well. There are so many things in life that distract us from cultivating our minds like we should, giving our imagination a chance to live. Pushing those distractions away and getting family involved in books and conversation is a way to grow closer to one another and expand imagination.

Families can have so much enjoyment from wonderful family titles such as The Chronicles of Narnia or the Little House on the Prairie books. I remember when I was eight years old and my mother introduced me to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I couldn't imagine what it was about! And I was itching to know. Mom had a time where we would sit down every afternoon with some snacks and continue the tale about the magical land of Narnia in a wardrobe and the oddly-named fawn Tumnus. At eight years old I was hooked.

And to this day I can't put down books. I love gaining knowledge in general. School excites me (minus the loathed mathematics!) All because my mother sparked my imagination at such a young age instead of letting me veg out in front of TV all day.

Shakespeare : The Man We Don't Know

During the Elizabethan age, there lived a man who is perhaps the most profound author of the ages. But he is also a man we don't really know outside of his literary masterpieces.

The known facts about William are that he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. Anne and her children and William's parents were all illiterate. William did not have access to any form of education beyond a mere two years in a parish elementary school.

Compare all that to Shakespeare's works. Each work required a great deal of knowledge of different cities and cultures of which William would have had to travel a great deal to know. The amount of traveling experience does not add up.

The likeliest candidate of the real Shakespeare would be the Early of Oxford. He was born in 1550 and died 1604, which the date oddly coincides with the time that Shakespeare's plays had stopped being written. There are several indications:

In 1623 this marble bust in the Straford-upon Avon Church was altered. It went from a hammer and chisel in his hand to a pen and paper on a pillow. The pudgy little man was changed to a tall, lean, high domed face with a piercing gaze.

The Earl or Edward De Vere was a highly intellectual man, who studied at Oxford and had extensive foreign travel. The earl was often blamed and disgraced for being around 'unsavory' characters and was particularly obsessed with theater and plays. He was also an avid admirer of Ben Johnson, a young actor and playwright.

Basically the man that people knew as William Shakespeare is believed to be the Earl's scapegoat so that he could live with the privileges of an Earl but still write plays. He just needed someone to carry out his works.

"In 1920 the Earl of Oxford was put forward as the true author of the works of William Shakespeare by J. Thomas Looney in his Shakespeare Identified in Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. In 1975, the Encyclopedia Britannica (15th edition) commented that, "Edward De Vere became in the 20th century the strongest candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's plays." From the Life of Earl of Oxford

"Shakespeare is the man that captures emotions no other author has created."G.Grant

"If we understand nothing more from Shakespeare it should be this":

• He left an incredible literary legacy-Someone created the most magnificent treasure in all of history.
• History is to not merely be consumed whole, you must analyze and wrestle with the ideas. History is an art.
• Not only is Shakespeare the creator of a vast legacy, a rich literary legacy that history is an art, not a Science; but he reminded us that the Christian worldview creates a form of art that is different from anything else that any worldview has ever created.

Who was the real Shakespeare? We might never know.

(Quotes from Dr.George Grant)

The Quest for Knowledge ~ My Mother's Relaxed Approach to Homeschooling

When we first began homeschooling, I had been used to an eight-hour day of school with information being fed to me. I don't believe I paid attention to a fraction of what we were 'taught'. When we started homeschooling, it was a new venture but I still expected the same approach to education. Mom approached it from the exact opposite (which was ironic because she was previously a school teacher). Instead of making me sit down and do the traditional book work, she let things happen at their own pace.

I'm not saying she just let our education go and let happen what would, but she paid more attention to what I was interested in and tried to capitalize on that. She also questioned the idea of "every child learning a certain thing at a certain time", a concept necessary for grade-categorized systems.

She didn't worry about or force my eight year old brother because he wasn't reading quite like he should. But now at twelve he can read very well and is experiencing the joy and excitement of learning through literature (what Mom believes is the basis of all education), whereas he might have despised it had she pushed him forward too quickly.

I think the way my mother presented education to me as a child had a huge impact on the way I view learning today. Since learning wasn't something I had to do in a certain time frame on a certain schedule, I cultivated a love and want for it on my own. And Mom never said "OK kids now we have to do math." It was presented as an opportunity more than a requirement. (But believe me, she required it ;-))

A game Mother made up to spark our imagination was what she called "Knowledge Quest". Mom printed out a sheet of twenty random questions such as 'What are the Seven Wonders of the World?' And 'How high is Mount Everest?' Whoever answered all the questions first and accurately got a prize at the end. (i.e. special trip out for ice cream) We had to find the answers on our own through books. (We had not yet been introduced to Google) :-) Her intention was not really to get us to answer the questions. She wanted us to "get lost in the rabbit trails", having our curiosities sparked by what we found. And I remember it being so much fun. It gave us kids a thirst for more.

Simple things that we didn't necessarily call 'school' kept knowledge integrated into our day. Here are a few suggestions from my mother that she carries out with us...

• Answer in detail–"As best you can, answer your children’s questions with details, looking for learning opportunities in the simplest of questions. If necessary, tell them you don’t know the answer and invite them to help you look it up. True education is not giving in the answer, it's in showing them how to find it."

• Expand their vocabulary–“Mom, this flower is pretty.” “Yes, it is….it’s remarkable. I love the colors…they’re so bright and vibrant! Do you know what ‘vibrant’ means? It’s just another word for ‘bright’.”

• Reinforce their learning/reading. "Charlotte Mason emphasized the importance of “narration”, a retelling of an event or something the child read. Having a child repeat things back to you is a powerful tool for solidifying what he has read, seen or experienced. It also opens the doors for further discussion."

• Ask questions. "A most important part of education is teaching a child to think, observe and analyze. This is best done through questioning in conversation. From the time they are little through adulthood, get your children in the habit of being able to answer “why” or “how”. I like to ask them, 'What do you think about that?' "

I know there are so many ways to carry out a homeschooling approach that it can become overwhelming. But as I reflect back over my experience as a student, I know I want to integrate much of the same educational philosophy that my mom has..."God has given children a natural curiosity to learn; the best education feeds it".

Recommended reading: Upgrade: 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child, Kevin Swanson